Happy 40th Birthday Jeremy!

I struggled with a great gift for my husband for his 40th birthday.  He doesn't wear a watch.  Clothes aren't his thing.  It's too FREAKING hot in St. Louis for a ball game this time of year and I can't buy tickets now for next spring!  For a guy that doesn't have much - Jeremy is the MOST difficult person to buy for. So - I'm taking a different approach.  Those of you who know me well, you know I don't pour my heart out often.  I'll tell you what I think but, it's rare for me to put my emotions out for everyone to see.  Sure, to look at Jeremy and I, and our relationship, we talk loud, we argue about everything, we poke fun at each other, and maybe we don't always seem the picture of a loving couple - maybe not even a liking couple.  To tell you the truth, I couldn't imagine one second of my life without him and I even though I did struggle at the beginning, looking back, I really knew from the moment I met him...and once I told him that's how he felt about me, that was it!  We were stuck!

I met Jeremy a few months before he turned 30 (10 whole years ago!).  I really struggled with a birthday gift for him that year too.  We'd only been dating for 3, going on 4 months at the time and I didn't think I knew him well enough to spend much money.  I had searched and searched and finally picked out a gift.  Something perfect.  Something I knew he'd LOVE.  But, it was expensive!  $300!  I was living on my own then, alone for the first time EVER - paying my own rent (no roommate), car payment, utilities, etc., not depending on any man to help me.  I'd just - I mean JUST come out of a 6 year roller coaster.  I both was and I wasn't sure if this new guy (was I ready for a new guy?) was someone, or this relationship was something to invest THAT much money into so early on.  I waited and I prayed, at the last possible second, I took the chance.  I bought that $300 gift and I gave it to Jeremy for his birthday that year.  I'll always remember the smile on his face when he opened it.  Jeremy has worn my gift everyday since.  And everyday, when I see that gift, I think of my uncertainties in our relationship at that time, which always leads me to remember my leap of faith and where the last 10 years has brought us.  We have a lot of memories wrapped up in this time - some good, some not so good.  We've learned a lot, we're still learning from each and every one.

We both, of course brought our own baggage into this relationship, as all couples do.  I had told Jeremy once - "Don't ever regret your past because every single moment of it had to happen the way it happened to bring us to where we are.  If either of us, had skipped just a second of it, we would have missed each other!"   Oddly,  until recently, I had never thought of it regards to myself  - if I hadn't dated this one, or that one - I wouldn't have crossed Jeremy's path.  I only wanted him to move forward, not regret the past - it's our past that makes us who we are...maybe I already knew it for myself.

I heard this song back in early July (when I wrote this) and it reminds me of the plan God had/has laid out for us - Jeremy and I.  How we don't always know where each step is leading us at the time but, if we look back where we have been, the path is clearly there, laid out behind as it was intended to be.

"Bless The Broken Road" - Rascall Flatts

I set out on a narrow way many years ago
Hoping I would find true love along the broken road
But I got lost a time or two
Wiped my brow and kept pushing through
I couldn't see how every sign pointed straight to you

Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

I think about the years I spent just passing through
I'd like to have the time I lost and give it back to you
But you just smile and take my hand
You've been there you understand
It's all part of a grander plan that is coming true

Every long lost dream led me to where you are
Others who broke my heart they were like Northern stars
Pointing me on my way into your loving arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

Now I'm just rolling home
Into my lover's arms
This much I know is true
That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you

That God blessed the broken road
That led me straight to you.

I see now, my path was also leading straight to you, our beautiful son, the crazy brown dog, and every other thing in this life we have built together with all of its challenges as well as its triumphs.  I'm glad I took a chance and bought that gift for you 10 years ago and I'm still glad it was you, though I don't always show it, I think I'm the one who got the best gift!

Happy 40th Birthday Jeremy!  I love you to the moon, and back again.

Gilmore Car Museum - 2011

We knocked another one off of our Summer To-Do list this weekend.  There are a few things that we didn't get to but, there is always next summer, right?  Sunday, Daddy was home with us so we took a little drive out to Richlad to check out the Gilmore Car Museum.  I'd heard mention of this place before, so I knew it was a bunch of barns with old cars, and I admit, it was not on the top of my list of things to do or to see.  Though it doesn't happen often and I rarely admit this but, I was wrong.  Yeah, it is a bunch of old barns but, not like old cow barns, each one rich in history, at least one taken apart, numbered, moved and rebuilt at this location - full of beautiful old cars all buffed and polished - not a bit of tarnish on all that brass (is it?)!

This is in the gift shop and it's the only car you are allowed to touch - let alone sit in!  Perfect for us!

The Shell gas station - I shit you not, it smelled just like old oil/gas/car in there!  Truly an amazing restoration!

"Calling All Cars!"

Daddy's favorite

Mommy's favorite.  I found that I was kinda partial to the old Packards, Lincolns, etc.  Look at at that - is it brass?

They had 3 or 4 Checker Cabs

And of course, Doc Hudson!

And a little Dale Jr.

A rare Stout Scarab

"Look Mommy just like in my room!"

This staircase was recycled from an old mansion. 

Now we're talking!  Did I ever tell you that my grandfather was a personal body guard to Henry Ford?

I wanted a family pic with these 2 old Fords.  If you've ever visited a museum with a child - you understand what happened.

"Bertie!"

George & Sally’s BLUE MOON DINER - You're going to have to go out to their site and read about this - I can't give it words to do it justice!  We did go in and check it out.  The frozen custard is delicious!

We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day for this trip - mid 70's with a nice breeze.  Jay did great with the "look with your eyes and not your hands" rule.  A perfect day to wind down summer! 

A little trip to the Fish Hatchery

With only a few more weeks until school starts, we're trying to use our Wednesdays to squeeze in a few last things that we wanted to do this summer.  Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery is another check off of our list.  My Dad spent most of his spare time trying to catch these slippery little buggers.  I'm told they're good eating, but I don't care much for fish.  I always think of my dad when we visit the fish hatchery and his love for sport fishing.  I felt him smiling down on us while we fed and learned a little about the fish.

Out front is what they call a show pond.  There is a dock that goes out into the middle of the pond with a couple of coin operated dispensers where a quarter gives you a handfull of fish pellets (THEY STINK) to feed these guys - you may not be able to see them very well but, I tell you the fish go CRAZY!  They're jumping, flipping, they're out of the water - it's GREAT!

The also have a visitor's center with an exhibit showing how the conservation officers traveled by train throught the state checking and stocking the fish population.  This is inside their train car.

"Great Lakes Fish"

With flair!

This is the 'outside of the train and below is a 1928 pickup truck used to transport the cans of fish.  (Coincidentally - my dad was born in 1928).

Don't they look real?

My dad would have LOVED it here!

Showing Daddy the turtle.

Jacob's First Lost Tooth

Last Monday, I picked Jacob up from day-care and Elaine says to me "Jacob has a loose tooth!"   I'm all, "Are you shittin' me!?!"  Sure enough Jacob opened his mouth and wiggled that little tooth!  And me, I cried.  Jacob hugged me and we sat in Elaine's kitchen and I cried - my little boy isn't so little anymore.  We went home and called all the Grandmas & Grandpas with our big news.

So...here it is.  The little tooth that caused all of the excitement.

And of course, the not so little boy who lost it.

How many teeth do they lose anyway?

Make-A-Wish Breakfast

Last Saturday, our local Applebee's hosted a pancake breakfast to benfit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.  Of course, The Otsego Fire Department was on the scene with Firefighter Tim, Firefighter Joel (aka Other Firefighter) and Lt. Baker.  Jacob has those boys wrapped right around his little finger.

Trying on Firefighter Joel's gear.  "It's too hot!" Jacob said and I couldn't help feeling for these guys - it was 80 degrees the morning with at least 90% humidity - and just think they're gonna put on those jackets, helmuts, and pants, for the sole purpose of helping someone in need.  It takes someone pretty special, pretty self-less to put others first like that.

And then he found "The Boss's" hat!  Lt. Baker told us that anytime he stops by Otsego Fire Station and the door is open, he's more than welcome to come in and say 'hello!'.



Fantasy Twirl

Road Trip!

In Daddy's car.

I drive about 30 minutes to work and home everyday.  Depending on the weather, how soon I want to get home, and the flow of traffic, there are numerous routes that I can take.  On one of these routes - in the middle of nowhere - is a little town called Burnips.  It's large enough for a pizza parlor, a gas station, a fire department, a post office, a little bar and well, that's about it...except for Fantasy Twirl.  This ice cream spot on a country road just down from a farm equipment dealer.  We've talked for years about going, and well...we went!

Oddly, while we were in line to order, a random Fire Department pumper drove by.  No lights...no siren...it turns by the Fantasy Twirl and never came back.  The summer hay wagon was there too - with peaches & cream sweet corn $3.50/dozen!  And it was GOOD!

It was busy!  It was hot!  And they had "Blue Ice Cream"

with a little boy making funny faces.

We also had to visit Burnips Farm Equipment.

One more check off on our to-do list!

The Personality Test

A few months ago (Jacob's preschool graduation as a matter of fact), I had a great talk with my sister-in-law, (my brother's wife) I don't see her often but, it seems when we get together, we have so much to share and we talk mile-a-minute to get everything out.  My point here, she was telling me about this book Personality Plus: How to Understand Others by Understanding Yourself  by Florence Littauer and well, I couldn't wait to get my hands on this book!

Personality Plus talks about four key personality types.The four temperaments were originally proposed by Hippocrates (the father of medical science) 350 years before the birth of Christ, to explain differences in personalities, based on the predominant bodily fluid-hence the rather unappealing names: Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic, and Melancholic.  And here is a link to the quiz if you'd like to try for yourself.

I am a Perfect Meloncholy/Powerful Choleric. 

(from CatholicMatch.com) If you are melancholic-choleric, you are somewhat less pragmatic (or utilitarian) than a pure choleric, just as persevering and determined, and with a greater emphasis on the ideal. Likely to be motivated by the most noble and demanding of causes, you are capable of founding a humanitarian society, composing a symphony, founding a school, or discovering a cure. You are organized, perfectionist, introspective, driven, and moody (though less so than a pure melancholic). You will be less active than a choleric-melancholic and less extraverted, more internally focused.

But your weaknesses include a tendency to excessive self-criticism and criticism of others, being dismissive or overly judgmental, exhibiting a tendency to self-absorption, and possessing an untrustful and controlling nature. You tend to be inflexible, can bear grudges for a long time and may be prone to discouragement. A melancholic-choleric who is not attentive to his spiritual life, and does not keep his eye assiduously on the truly important things of life can become a cross to those around him, through his nit-picking, perfectionism, disdain, bitterness, resentfulness, spitefulness when crossed, and even haughtiness.
 
Personality Strengths of the Melancholy (these bulleted traits came from WomenbyGrace.com

• Deep and thoughtful
• Analytical  
• Serious and purposeful  
• Genius prone  
• Talented and creative  
• Artistic or musical  
• Appreciative of beauty  
• Sensitive to others
• Self-sacrificing  
• Conscientious  
• Idealistic  
• As a parent, sets high standards and wants everything done right.  
• As a homemaker, keeps everything in order.  
• As an employee, schedule oriented and hard working.  
• A list maker and keeper.  

Personality Weaknesses of the Melancholy

•  Easily offended
• Can get too caught up in details  
• Doesn’t do well with change.  
• Struggles with insecurity  
• Tends towards depression

Personality Strengths of the Powerful Choleric:

• You are a born leader, dynamic and active and have a compulsive need for change.  
• You often feel that you must correct wrongs.  
• You are strong-willed and decisive, independent and self-sufficient.  
• You are not easily discouraged and can be unemotional when necessary.  
• You are capable of running anything and exude confidence.  
• You are an expert in exerting sound leadership, establishing goals and able to motivate the family in to action. 
• You always know the right answer and organize the household.  
• You are very goal oriented, see the whole picture and organize well.  
• You seek practical solutions to problems and move quickly to action.  
• You delegate work but insist on productivity.  
• You make the goals, stimulate activity and thrive on opposition.  
• You have little need for friends and will work for group activity.  
• You often lead from the front, organize and are usually right.  
• You excel during emergencies.

 Personality Weakness of the Choleric

• You can be bossy and impatient.  
• You are quick tempered, can’t relax and can be too impetuous.  
• You enjoy controversy and arguments and won’t give up when losing.  
• You can come on too strong, are inflexible and uncomplimentary.  
• You dislike tears and emotions and are generally unsympathetic.  
• You tend to over dominate, are too busy for your family and will often give answers too quickly.  
• You are impatient with poor performance and won’t let children relax if you have any. You are likely to send them in to depression.  
• You have little tolerance for mistakes, however, you don’t analyze details yourself, are bored by trivia and can often make rash decisions.  
• You can be rude and tactless and often manipulate people.  
• You are demanding of others and believe that the end justifies the means.  
• Work may become the driving force in your life and you demand loyalty in the ranks.  
• You tend to use people and dominate others.  
• You make decisions on other people’s behalf and you know everything.  
• You can do everything better, are too independent and are overly possessive of friends and mate. 
• You can’t say your sorry and, although you may often be right, you can become unpopular.

Whew!  Aren't those some wonderful traits to be revealing of myself (and sharing with you)!  Thankfully, that is my secondary! 

Since reading this book has brought those ugly traits (and yes, I have seen every one of them at some point in my life) into the light and I am now more aware of them, as you know I've been working hard for some time to make adjustments in myself.  You've read the list, some of those things are quite ugly and some I've corrected a long time ago, some just recently and some will need a lot of work.  I don't want to be those things of course, and the only person who is capable of changing them is me.  I better get to writing that list!!